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Perhaps they were, he thought with a small frown, if everything was done just right. He thought of Charlotte, and his yearning to see her, but there was something else he had to attend to first. Something important he had to fix before he could go to Charlotte and explain what a monumental fool he’d been.
Charlotte staredat the tree and exhaled for the first time in hours—since Dash had come home, and she’d had to put aside the tangle of her emotions and focus on him, on being the best version of herself for him, on making their Christmas together magical despite the bomb that had just detonated in the middle of her life.
But whenever Dash stopped talking, whenever he gave Charlotte even a minute’s breathing space, her mind went to Alessio, to the morning they’d had—absolute heaven on earth—to the argument at Winona’s and in the car afterwards, and she felt numb, and simultaneously overcome with emotions.
Fortunately, Dash was rarely still, meaning Charlotte was able to remain distracted for much of the time, but now, with the little boy fast asleep, visions of sugar plums and brightly wrapped presents dancing in his head, Charlotte was alone, at last, to contemplate the wreckage of her life.
She thought about calling Melody—the only person on earth who’d ever been able to pull her out of a funk—but shied away from that. It was still too raw. Too hard to talk about.
There was nothing for it but to experience these feelings and hope that one day, she’d grow from them.
“Alessio?”At least this time, his mother used the correct version of his name.
Alessio’s eyes swept over her, wondering if his desire for a clean slate could extend to her too? Carrying the anger he had for all these years had very nearly cost him everything—maybe it had? He wasn’t so sure anymore that it served the protective purpose he’d envisaged.
“May I come in?”
Her lips parted in surprise before she stepped backwards and waved a slender hand to the entrance hall of her home. He stepped in, looking around without really seeing, then turned his focus to his mother.
“I need to speak to you.”
“I thought you’d left?”
“I did. I came back.”
Winona’s eyes widened. “I see.” She moved deeper into her home, calling, over her shoulder, “Come and tell me what’s going on.”
In the kitchen, Winona flicked the kettle, standing beside it while it boiled, eyes resting on Alessio’s face.
Now that he’d arrived, he was uncharacteristically stuck for words. “Is Caleb here?”
Winona frowned. “He’s gone home. Do you need to speak to him? What’s going on?”
“At some point,” he confirmed thoughtfully. Now that he understood his own feelings for Charlotte, he felt only pity for the other man. Loving her and knowing she didn’t love you as anything more than a friend was a difficult fate indeed. It may still be a fate that awaited Alessio, however. He didn’t know yet.
“How long are you here for?”
An excellent question. “I don’t know.” He frowned, considering that. While he’d come here half-cocked, he hadn’t considered the practicalities of how they’d make this work. Charlotte was heavily entrenched in her life in Morincester. She had a child at school, that child had grandparents, she loved her job, she had friends. But his life was in Italy, and the idea of leaving his responsibilities felt like a direct betrayal of his father.
He pushed those considerations aside for now. They didn’t require an immediate solution.
“A little while,” he said with a lift of his shoulders. “I came to see Charlotte.”
“Charlotte,” Winona repeated with a nod, but an expression that showed confusion. “Why?”
“I don’t think she was honest with you today.”
Winona frowned.
“What Charlotte and I are to each other—it’s not nothing. It means something.” He grimaced, frustrated by his inability to verbalise the feelings of his heart. “It matters.”
Comprehension seemed to dawn for Winona. “You care about her,” she said gently, frown turning to a smile as she pulled out two mugs and added tea bags then water to each, followed by a splash of milk.
“Yes.” His answer was firm and decisive.
“And she cares about you.”
“I hope so.”
